Perfect Pasta

The best tool for separating boiling pasta is an inexpensive pasta spoon. The wooden forks tend to break easily, and metal tongs don't protect your arm from hot water when you pick up the noodles. The secret to delicious pasta is mixing the noodles with sauce and adding final ingredients such as herbs, capers or olives at the last minute, rather than ladling sauce over cooked pasta.

Chris Kimball, editor of Cook's Illustrated, explains how to make perfect pasta every time.

• Choose the correct shape pasta for the type sauce you are using. Flat pastas are best for smooth sauces such as cheese and tomato, while hollow pasta works best with chunky sauces.

• Use a large pot when cooking pasta. Pasta get gummy when it is cooked in too little water. Allow four quarts water for every pound of pasta. One pound of dry pasta will feed four people.

• Salt the water--2 teaspoons per four quarts. Double this amount if you're using kosher salt.

• Do not add oil to the water to keep pasta from sticking. Oil makes the cooked pasta slippery and the sauce won't adhere to it. If you use enough water to absorb the starch released by the cooking pasta, it won't stick.

• Bring water and salt to a roiling boil, then add pasta. Stir with a pasta spoon to keep it from clumping. Cover with a lid until water returns to a boil.

• Check pasta after five minutes. Cook until just about al dente. It will finish cooking when combined with sauce.

• Drain pasta in a colander. Do not rinse under water.

• Add pasta to warming sauce and cook for one to 1-1/2 minutes. The pasta will absorb the sauce.

• Just before serving, add a teaspoon of fruity olive oil and other garnishes such as herbs, olives or capers. They are more flavorful when they are added at the last minute, rather than during cooking.

Resources
Cook's Illustrated
This is a magazine of step-by-step recipes, quick tips, tastings and testings.
Boston Common Press
17 Station St.
Brookline, MA 02445
Toll-free: 800-888-6660
E-mail: Cooks@bcpress.com
Website: www.cooksillustrated.com

The Best Recipe
by Editors of Cook's Illustrated Magazine
Boston Common Press, 1999
Order this title from Amazon.com.
This cookbook contains 700 recipes for all types of food.

Guests
Christopher Kimball
Editor, Cook's Illustrated magazine
Website: www.cooksillustrated.com
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